Justice Yahya Afridi picked as new CJP

ISLAMABAD: The Special Parliamentary Committee on Tuesday picked the name of Justice Yahya Afridi as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) with two-thirds majority

Now the proposed CJP’s name would be referred to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to forward it to President Asif Ali Zardari for approval.

The panel picked the name of Justice Afridi from the list of three senior most judges of Supreme Court which includes Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar besides Justice Yahya Afridi.

The in-camera session of the 12-member committee was held here at the Parliament House on Tuesday and was attended by Raja Pervez Ashraf, Senator Farooq H Naek, Syed Naveed Qamar, Kamran Murtaza, Raana Ansar, Ahsan Iqbal, Shaista Parvez Malik, Azam Nazir Tarar and Khawaja Asif.

The PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council members — Barrister Ali Zafar, Barrister Gohar Khan and Hamid Raza — boycotted the meeting.

Announcing the decision after the meeting, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar announced that the MPs forum had nominated Justice Afridi as the new CJP and his name had been sent to the prime minister. He said the requirement of the constitution of decision of two-thirds majority of the committee members was fulfilled. He said after a long discussion, the committee agreed on the name of Justice Afridi by a two-thirds majority.

According to sources, out of nine members of the panel, eight voted in favour of Justice Afridi as the new CJP. The committee held two in camera sessions, first in the afternoon and second in the evening.

The first session was adjourned to convince the PTI-backed SIC members to attend the committee meeting, as the party had announced to boycott the process of selecting the new CJP.

According to sources, during the meeting JUIF Senator Kamran Murtaza contacted the SIC leaders on phone and invited them to attend the meeting but they refused. Tarar also suggested that they should convince the SIC members on attending the meeting.

Later, a four-member sub-committee was formed that included Raja Pervez Ashraf, Ahsan Iqbal, Kamran Murtaza and Raana Ansar to convince the SIC members to attend the meeting.

However, PTI refused to be a part of the process, refusing to attend the meeting of the parliamentary committee.

On the request of the sub-committee, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq arranged its meeting with the SIC members in his chamber where the sub-committee members and PTI’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan held talks.

Gohar informed them that the political committee of his party had decided that they would not attend any meeting of the special committee. He refused to change his decision despite repeated efforts by the sub-committee members.

Meanwhile, according to sources, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari instructed his party members of the committee that the decision on the new CJP should be as close to consensus as possible. Sources said Bilawal was of the opinion that the committee members should take a joint decision.

In the first session, the law secretary presented the names of three senior judges — Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Yahya Afridi — before the committee.

The panel reviewed the profile of the judges one by one, but due to non-participation of PTI and SIC, the meeting was adjourned till 8 pm.

Talking to the media after the adjournment, Tarar said that the first meeting had been held and nine members of the committee participated in the meeting.

He said that the number specified in the constitutional amendment in the parliamentary committee for the nomination of chief justice was complete, but the government wanted the decision to be taken by consensus, so it had been decided to again convince the opposition to attend the meeting.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Shahzad Shaukat said the nomination of Justice Yahya Afridi for appointment as chief justice of Pakistan has been made strictly in accordance with the new constitutional procedure.

“There is no doubt that Justice Yahya Afridi is an excellent judge. Other senior judges are also of superior standard, but this appointment has been made under the prevailing constitutional procedure,” he said while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’.

Shaukat said the constitutional amendment has already taken place; this is a fact. “Even today, our point of view is that it could have been further improved. Seniority should also be considered, but at this time, making it controversial is not appropriate.”

He urged setting aside the political lens to view it as a law. “A section of lawyers has a different point of view. We respect that. The Constitution of Pakistan has been followed here. What will they protest about? The constitutional court, on which the CoD agreed, should go on that idea, but insistence came to form the bench.”

Also speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said two-thirds of the nine members of the Special Parliamentary Committee present in the meeting had decided in favour of Justice Yahya Afridi after a detailed discussion.

Asif, who is one of the members of the committee, declined to share details at this stage, saying he respects the three judges. He said they want any differences within the judiciary to end, stressing that it would not be appropriate for him to make what was discussed in the meeting public.

He was of the view that the two other judges whose names were selected for the post would remain in the judiciary, and that was why he would refrain from making any comments in this regard.

The defence minister said that in America, the entire life and family of a person is discussed before their nomination, but this does not happen in Pakistan at present. He wished a time would come when the Pakistani society is liberal enough to be open such discussions.

When host Shahzeb Khanzada said the government had an opportunity to telecast live the discussion on the amendment and three judges, Khawaja Asif said this wish could be fulfilled in any future amendment. He said Kamran Murtaza had made very constructive remarks.

Replying to the question if the government would have to consider the names of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib for the position if Justice Yahya declined to become the CJP because in that case he would retire at the age of 63 instead of 65, he said those who have voted in favour of Justice Yahya hope he would accept his nomination. He said he expected Justice Yahya to accept his nomination though he personally did not know about any of the three judges.

He said the 26ht amendment’s main focus was on the judiciary, and other things would take place for the elimination of Riba. He said there was need for the amendment because the judiciary had assumed a political role in the past 16 years. He said the amendment has made it clear that the government has no right to intervene in those areas of the judiciary which the constitution has highlighted.

The defence minister stated that the army has been the most important institution in the 76-year history of the country, and if that institution can send the names of five most senior officers, and the civilian prime minister can appoint one of them as chief of the army staff, why then the same thing can be done in the judiciary.

He said the amendment has given the government this right, a right which exist in other democratic countries as well, and the coming government could also benefit from this.

To a query if the judiciary was independent earlier or if it would be more independent after the 26th amendment, Khawaja Asif emphasized that the judiciary is independent and the government would in no circumstances intervene in it as we believe in the judiciary for delivering justice.

Answering a question about the reason behind nominating Justice Yahya, he said the government has no personal connection with him nor does he himself know about him. The committee members who selected Justice Yahya had least knowledge about him and they had a detailed discussion about him.

As regards a statement from Salman Akram Raja, he said nobody had been kidnapped. He said nobody from Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party had been kidnapped either, and if that had been the case, Maulana Fazl would have informed the government about it.

He said no discussion had taken place about whether the government was facing any threat.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Hamid Khan said he sees Justice Yahya as a good person and a good judge. “I hope he won’t accept this and won’t be unfair to his senior judges. And we will give a call from the lawyers’ side tomorrow that you will become the chief justice in your turn. Don’t accept it. You are third. After you, Munib Akhtar, and then you will become the chief justice, become it with dignity.”

He continued: “If you take the oath today, you will tarnish your name. The nation and the lawyers will not forgive you. Lawyers will not accept it. As the lawyers’ community, we will condemn it and launch a movement against them.”

He said Shahzad Shaukat is conniving with them, adding that they feel ashamed to call him the bar president. “No one has been so compromised. Everyone knows that lawyers have always agreed on this principle that the chief justice should be the senior-most judge. When Munir was appointed out of turn, the whole nation saw the harm it did.”

He said Benazir Bhutto had appointed Sajjad Ali Shah, so he himself had suffered, and the nation had suffered as well. “This kind of thing has happened twice, and it has had the worst consequences. I don’t want to make this a political issue. This is purely a lawyers’ issue. How much division there is among lawyers will be revealed in the Supreme Court Bar elections on the 29th.”

He said Shahzad Shaukat would be the most condemned this time, adding that he had failed to represent the lawyers. “The party did absolutely right by not participating, because we did not accept this amendment in principle. These two amendments are not acceptable at all. There should be no political committee for the nomination of the chief justice.”

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal said: “We should differentiate between lawyers and the lawyers wing of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. If the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was interested in the nomination of a particular name and wanted to advance its political agenda through it, as it has done in the past, that’s a separate matter.”

He said that as far as the legal community is concerned, the decision was made on merit. “I want to ask Hamid Khan that regarding the chief justices of the high court, didn’t Justice Mansoor say that seniority alone is not enough, fitness should also be considered?”

He said that based on this, there were no objections to promoting the chief justice from the first three senior judges, and there were no objections to not elevating the senior-most judge to the Supreme Court. Now they are saying that appointing someone from the panel of three will create a constitutional crisis, which is wrong, he added.

“There is already division within the judiciary. At this time, there is a need for statesmanship to eliminate polarisation within the judiciary and the country’s legal system.”

He said Justice Saqib Nisar had not come through seniority. “What did he do to the country? Justice Gulzar and others who came through seniority, what did they do? Doesn’t this principle exist in America?”

In response to the question how Justice Yahya was chosen, Ahsan Iqbal said that the proceedings were conducted in-camera. “The constitution requires that we participate in the proceedings under oath. If the proceedings had been open, I would have definitely shared my views.”

He said that in America, many people withdraw their nominations because they fear public backlash. “Their selection was not based on political grounds. Everyone believes that Justice Yahya has leadership qualities. Everyone thought there might be only minor differences in the abilities of the three. It is up to Justice Yahya to accept or decline.”

However, he said he believes that with such a big responsibility and the parliament’s trust in Justice Yahya, even though it is now his personal choice, there should not be any reason for him to decline. “The Supreme Court has always been used by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for its political agenda.”